The sacred works on this disc were composed by two powerhouses of the Baroque. The well-known Austrian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704) left a seemingly never ending trail of wonderful works, but Johann Kaspar Kerll, who also wrote a great number of outstanding pieces, is...

As you read this, I invite you to listen to the beautiful Et resurrexit episode from the Credo of Missa Dei Patris by Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) with its delightful rhythmic, harmonic and melodic complexities. It’s this intricate compositional finesse, exploring so many subtle...

This is the second program to come from Carus performed by the vocal ensemble Gli Scarlattisti featuring the music of these two baroque masters, Andreas Hammerschmidt (1611/12-1675) and Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684). Formed in 1995 by Jochen Arnold, who also directs these performances, Gil...

Referred to by some admirers as “the Polish Handel,” Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (1665-1734) was the most important composer of the Polish high baroque. This release from CD Accord - all class, inside and out - contains the world premiere recordings of his Missa Rorate,...

Carl Heinrich Graun (1703-1759) is another enormously gifted composer whose music has been thoroughly eclipsed by that of great and like-sounding contemporaries. In Graun’s case, it’s Bach and Handel. Best known in his day as a composer of opera, Graun also produced a relatively...

It’s striking how much this Passion by Homilius sounds like the passions and oratorios of J.S. Bach at times, especially in the choruses, but also in the recitatives. This new recording of the St. Mark Passion HoWV I.10 by Gottfried August Homilius (1714-1785) is an important release...